Three council members allege the city is fast-tracking decisions without key review steps.The suit comes a day after the mayor slammed the council for “infighting and “shenanigans.”
By Devyani Chhetri, Everton Bailey Jr.,Staff Writers
Three Dallas City Council members sued the city to halt a pivotal meeting this week on the future of City Hall, accusing its leaders of trying to “ram through this momentous decision” without adequate public notice or council review.
The suit describes the council agenda for a special-called meeting Wednesday as “deeply problematic” and says residents have been denied “adequate notice” about what the city proposes to do with City Hall.
Council members Paula Blackmon, Adam Bazaldua and Cara Mendelsohn filed the suit Monday in Dallas County District Court against the city of Dallas, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and City Secretary Bilierae Johnson.
The council members are asking a judge to halt the meeting Wednesday in which the council is scheduled to vote on four items that would advance plans to relocate City Hall and emergency operations, authorize redevelopment efforts for the City Hall site and begin a phased repair program for the existing building.
“We filed this because the process has been completely flawed from the start,” Blackmon said Monday. “I’m tearing down a building. For what?”
A city spokesman declined to comment late Monday on the suit.
The filing came one day after Mayor Eric Johnson criticized efforts to slow the City Hall debate, urging council members not to “seek delay for its own sake” and calling for an end to what he described as “infighting and shenanigans.”
“The City Council must decide whether they want big things to happen in Dallas or somewhere else,” Johnson wrote in a newsletter released Sunday.
The issue confronting the council is whether to spend hundreds of millions to remain in the building or continue exploring alternatives, including relocating city operations elsewhere. It is not clear whether a judge will hear the suit before that meeting.
The lawsuit says the city is violating a financial rule that requires a supermajority to authorize the opening of a new facility. The city is yet to provide a required five-year financial forecast ahead of a redevelopment deal and a historic preservation plan, the lawsuit says.
“The loss or alteration of this irreplaceable civic landmark cannot be undone,” the lawsuit said. “Once a decision is made to pursue ‘redevelopment,’ the building may be damaged or destroyed before legal remedies can be obtained.”
The suit also said the agenda language is too vague to satisfy the Texas Open Meetings Act because it does not clearly explain what authority would be granted to the city manager, what sites are under consideration or how much money could be spent.
The agenda includes blank appropriation amounts for relocation and due-diligence activities.
The lawsuit challenges the city’s handling of the process. It says council members were denied an opportunity to slow consideration of the redevelopment proposal until they received more information about its scope, costs and potential impacts.
Johnson supports moving out of City Hall and redeveloping the property. He has been openly sparring with council members for months, especially on budget issues. Some council members have countered that Johnson is quick to question City Hall’s direction while playing a limited role in crafting policy or building consensus.
Dallas City Hall Reporter
Devyani Chhetri covers Dallas City Hall. Before joining the Dallas Morning News, she covered South Carolina politics and presidential primaries. She went to Boston University for graduate school.
Dallas City Hall Reporter
Everton covers Dallas city government. He joined The Dallas Morning News in November 2020 after previously working for The Oregonian and The Associated Press in Hartford, Conn.
